


A Certain Pattern

by BethRedus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror AU, Auror Partners, F/M, Moscow rules
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 19:57:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4800356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BethRedus/pseuds/BethRedus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A pattern. A certain pattern had begun to appear, and that was a rather unsettling fact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Certain Pattern

Hermione tried to remember how it all started.  
Perhaps during disguise and stealth classes during Auror training. Somehow, when having to play newlyweds or teenage lovers (honestly who had shuffled the task cards?) none of their fellow trainees seemed to be capable of looking past their performance of bubbly sappiness to unmask them as the ever feuding duo. Perhaps pretending to be in love with Draco Malfoy, the sheer horror of it, had warped something in her brain. But that something demanded more and more attention each day. Such unnatural behavior simply had to leave some kind of severe brain damage.  
Never the less, a certain pattern had begun to appear, and that was a rather unsettling fact.

**Once is an accident.**

Well, the first time it definitely happened had been in May.  
They had been out, intending to investigate a series of strange disappearances in Soho , when they had stumbled, by accident really, on a smuggling ring. A meeting of a smuggling ring to be precise, in one of these little shop that her muggle friend Bee would have described as _a den of Tibet_. They had hidden behind a stack of crates of incense and colorful prayer flags, listening to the listings of goods smuggled in and out of London. Malfoy had tried, really tried, but the incense made him sneeze and well, that was the end of that. They had scrambled out of the shop before the gathering on the other side of the incense crate could properly react, however they came round a second later and sent a few of their men in pursuit.  
She knew they had to throw them off somehow. She grabbed Malfoys arm and dragged him to the next tube entrance, Tottenham Court Road. By sheer luck, and a little bit of magic perhaps, they managed to squeeze in a car just as the doors were closing. They let out a sigh of relief and even left the fact that they were pressed up against each other the entire ride uncommented and unbickered about. The next Station brought a nasty shock however. Just as the cars pulled into the next station, several men stood on the platform, waiting for the train to stop.  
,,How did they have been here so fast?”  
,,They called for colleagues?  
,,No there is more to it. Do you think...”  
,,I think regularly and thoroughly, Granger. Spit it out!”  
Hermione snapped her fingers. Barriers sprang up at every door, letting the muggles pass in and out, except the four men. Their own car she locked with a strong spell.  
,,Could they be wizards?”  
He paused for a moment ,,Interesting theory. The list of goods certainly did include quite a few things for higher potions or amulet making.”  
The men passed through the door of the cart behind them without any problems.  
,,They´re tracking us by magic.”  
,,If they are wizards then they are very likely to or rather stupid.”  
They don´t have hair or such to track us individually, they must be using a point me.”  
,,Probably.”  
,,Which means...”  
,,We need to find a large crowded space. Shame they don´t have those in London.”  
,,Har, har, come on.” she pulled him out at the next station. ,,Charing Cross?” he asked.  
,,And now we need to run a bit.”  
,,Trafalgar square? The only problem I see is we´re not an asian. Were are not part of a horde. And we don´t have a camera.”  
,,Pish posh, the vital essential you are missing is a selfie-stick...and a certain amount of enthusiasm. Come on.” She pointed to the large white marble building, pillars rising up in front of them.  
,,The national gallery? You want to...”  
,,We are not going into the Gallery. If a fight breaks out, I do not want to ruin any art.”  
,,So we´ll just stay outside to just the tourists get hurt in the altercation?”  
,,There are millions of tourists but only one Monet.”  
They weaved through the thicket of tourists and school classes, and climbed the marble steps until they were about halfway up. ,,Let´s just sit down and pretend were seeing this for the first time and were having extremely amounts of fun.” She pulled him down by the sleeve of his jacket to sit next to her, then flashed a smile at him and scooted nearer, placing one hand on his knee. He jumped in surprise.  
,,Look over there.” she pointed at a column. ,,That is Nelson, Horatio Nelson. He was killed in the battle of Trafalgar against the French and Spanish navy, his final victory. Did you know, he had horrible seasickness, but became a officer in the navy nevertheless?”  
,,Absolutely fascinating. Enemy, one, on four o´clock.”  
,,He was known for being a brilliant leader and strategist, albeit sometimes a bit unconventional. Acknowledged.”  
,,So how did he die? Moving in.”  
,,He got shot. The bullet passed through his shoulder and got stuck in his back. He died three hours later, his last words being: _God and my country_.”  
,,Truly inspiring. Still moving in.”  
They watched the man out of the corners of their eyes as Hermione began explaining the Napoleonic wars.  
,,He´s coming close.” Malfoy said in a low voice. ,,Confund him?”  
,,No. No magic. Not with all the security cameras. We can´t even apparate.”  
,,Granger. Think. Quick.”  
She leaned over and giggled as if he had told a joke, whist her mind went off whizzing. Every page she´d ever read in the handbooks, instruction she´d gotten during training, the Moscow rules, every spy movie she´d ever seen ran through her head. She knew this situation somehow.  
Think. Two people. Man. Woman. Followed. Out in public. Stairs. Escalator. Escalator?  
,,Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable.” she murmured to herself.  
,,What...Granger?”  
She grabbed him by his collar and hauled him in close.  
,,Granger, what are you doing?”  
,,Just..lie back and think of England?”  
,,Lie back and think of England? What?”  
,,Then Nelson. I don´t care who or what, just..trust me, ok?”  
,,Granger, what are you...?”  
She silenced him by pressing her lips against his. Malfoy froze. She nipped at his bottom lip, gently pulling at it with her teeth. He let out a gasp, as if he had been holding his breath. Her tongue ran along her own bottom lip, grazing his.  
He finally got the clue.  
He pulled her onto his lap, returning her kisses with the same vigor when she wrapped her arms around his neck and played with the hair of the nape of his neck. He was actually a rather good kissed, if he really tried, Hermione decided. Well, better than good. She tried to remember if anyone had ever kissed her like that. Not that she could think of. It was actually rather nice. The sun shone warmly down on them and the marble steps, people passed, moving up and down the stairs. She could hear the sounds of London,...when had she closed her eyes? She squinted through her lashes. His were shut as well so she decided it was alright to close hers again. Strange, how how pretty, she had no other word for it, he looked in the sunlight. Fair hair and long lashes, the pale panes of his face and nose so close for her inspection. Compared to his usual perpetual smirk or snarl, his presence was so much more pleasant, now that his mouth was occupied with something other than commenting on her hair or complaining about the world. Really if she thought about it this was probably the longest period of time they had ever gone through without bickering or outright fighting. Who would have thought this was a method to finally get him to shut up. Maybe she would have tried earlier.  
A small giggle escaped her lips, breaking the kiss. Not looking at his face, she pulled him close for a hug,. ,,Is he gone?” she whispered into this ear, like she was telling him a little secret.  
,,Yes.” he breathed.  
,,See any else?”  
,,No.”  
,,Good.” she quickly scooted off him. His cheekbones were tinged. She heard him mutter a distinct fuck underneath his breath. A strange pride welled up in her, making the ever poised Draco Malfoy lose his cool. ,,Sorry about that.”  
,,If you wanted to kiss me so badly you could have just asked, you know.” he smirked, right back to the old Malfoy she knew and despised. She rolled her eyes.  
,,You wish. I just saw a chance to shut you up for once. Come on, we´d better get going. Did you see the symbol on one of the boxes? A circle with initials around the rim and the letters R.R. in the middle? We need to find out what that means. And Briggs needs to hear about this.”

They returned to headquarters, gave their report and spent the rest of the week being unusually civilized to each other, which was no doubt due to the fact they seemed to awkwardly avoid each others presence, and if in presence, at least eye contact. Not only Harry, but the entire Auror team watched in confused suspicion, realizing something must have happened and tried to extract this information, information they were not willing to share.  
The other problem was that the Head Auror Briggs would not, could not (or simply rather not wanted to) believe that they had found a wizarding smuggling ring in the middle of Soho, despite their most eloquent attempts to convince him otherwise, which needless to say left them rather frustrated. Malfoy resorted to eloquent swearing, whilst Hermione sighed and proceeded to open a new folder for this particular case, should it indeed be made an official one anytime in the future.

 

**Twice is a coincidence.**

They had barely gone back to their normal bickering and sniping when it happened again. Frustrated by the lack of support by the office, they went back to Soho the following weekend, determined to dig deeper. It was hard however since the population of Soho on weekend nights is widely gay( in the merry sense), gay (in the gay sense) and pretty much sloshed. As they passed a pub, a pretty blue-haired girl stumbled away from the group of her friends, halted in a moment of confusion, before grabbing Hermiones face and snogged her soundly. Hermione froze, completely surprised by the alcoholic assault and had to be saved by a rather exasperated Malfoy from being shlepped off to karaoke or who knows where.  
Instead they began asking around, bartenders and pub-owners, if they had seen the symbol she had seen on the box somewhere else or knew what it meant, showing a scribble she had make in red ink. But they were more interested in selling their beer than any weird drawing. No one had seen or heard of it.  
Needless to say the two were rather frustrated after almost two hours of questioning and no results. They decided to have a beer, then resumed their search. Both their moods were getting worse and Malfoy was getting more and more grouchy.  
,,Granger, I need the mens.” he finally announced.  
,,Fine.” she said. ,,Let´s go in here...” she pointed at another bar. ,,You get to go to the loo and I´ll ask about the symbol, okay?”  
They entered the small and rather dingy establishment, Malfoy making a beeline to the mens (apparently he had been stubborn again, Hermione sighed). She approached the bar.  
,,Excuse me, have you seen this anywhere before?” she asked the pierced and tattooed bartender. He barely glanced down at it, but she something in his eyes spark. Fear. He recognized it.  
,,Never seen it in my entire life.” he told her gruffly. ,,Now, do you want a pint or not?”  
,,Thank you, but I´ll wait for my friend to return from the loo.”  
,,Whatever suits you.” he quickly disappeared behind the kitchen doors.  
She huffed in frustration.  
,,You want to know what the round robin means, lass?” a voice called out. She whirled around to find an old man sitting at one of the tables on the corner.  
,,You know what this is?” she asked approaching him.  
,,Aye. A round robin. It´s a way of agreement, an agreement amongst the members of a band or ring. See the initials around the edge of the circle? It means no one is the leader, it means they all are a equal part, they have the same responsibility and get the same amount of profit.”  
,,So the R.R means round robin?”  
,,It´s unusual, having initials in the middle. It might be the leaders initials, if round robins did have leaders. So I guess it does simply means round robin.”  
,,Do you know where they operate? How to contact them?”  
,,He´s to scared to tell ya...” he jerked his head at the bartender ,,...but we both have heard from them. Selling things, strange and dangerous things. Things like weird weeds those youngsters smoke. I don´t understand why anyone would prefer that over a good tobacco pipe, but well...times change. Anyhow lass, they are no one to trifle with. The have been some disturbing things happening to those around round robin. Almost as if...”  
,,As if?”  
,,Things that cannot be explained, things that should be impossible, like my sister, she was special, she could...no, never mind.” his voice grew into a quiet murmur.  
She leane dover the table, lowering her voice as well. ,,Unexplainable things? Like...magic?”  
He stared at her. ,,Your sister could do unexplainable things? Did she perhaps visit a special boarding school?” she whispered. The old mans face had turned completely white.  
,,How do you know?”  
She smiled. ,,Because I and your sister, we are alike.”  
,,You´re...one of her folk? One of the special ones?”  
,,Yes, a special one born from two...mundanes. Now, I need to stop this ring. Is there anything else you know?”  
,,Yes, you need to get out of here as fast as you can. Ringo, the bartender, he´s gotten in trouble with them, owes them money. He´s probably calling them right now, he´ll try to sell you out, to save his own skin, as if that could be saved.” he whispered ungently. ,,Grab your companion and go, lass!”  
She nodded. ,,Thank you.”  
,,Malfoy?” she knocked on the mens door, watching the kitchens closely. The bartender had still not reemerged. ,,Mafoy, get out here.” The door underneath her knuckles opened.  
,,Geez Granger, miss me that much that I can´t even...”  
,,We need to go. The bartender is trying to sell us out. They´ll be on us any minute now.”  
,,Shite, I really can´t leave you alone, can I?”  
,,Let´s go.”  
They slipped out of the bar, entering the one across the street, watching through the window as a group of men appeared around the corner, entering the other bar. They saw the bartender arguing with the leader, and the men returning to the street, dividing into groups dispersing at their leaders orders. One group heads straight for the bar they are sitting in.  
,,They´ll be looking for us.”  
They quickly headed out the back door than lead into an side alleyway, where a few smokers were huddling. She took his hand and the next moment, when a group of pursuers rounded around corner, she had him up against the brick wall, arms wrapped aground his neck, attacking his lips.  
Several people snickered. Malfoy understood immediately, returning her kiss, grabbing her waist and flipping them over, so she was up against the wall, both their faces hidden behind his tall stature. One of the smokers wolf whistled.  
She glanced through her hair, and watched as the men came up short, obviously irritated. They eyed the rest of the group. The smokers only stared back before continued their activities, another pair amongst them decided to start snogging too. All that her mind registered, but it couldn´t care less. Her lips moved against his, his hands in her hair and slung around her waist, his firm body pressing up against hers. She let her tongue slide along his bottom lips, teasing, tasting. He responded by gripping her tighter, coaxing her mouth open to let his own tongue taste hers.  
She felt like she was on fire like she was melting. His kisses trailing up and down her jaw, lips warm and soft leaving little butterfly kisses that activated their brethren in her stomach. She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer.  
After what felt like an eternity, peeked through her hair at their pursuers.  
Two men stayed at the corner of the alleyway, standing watch.  
Well, now or never.  
She finally unwrapped herself from him, taking a step back, wobbling on her legs as she took a few steps down the alley.  
,,You coming?” she called out, slightly slurred.  
He just stared at her.  
,,What?” she stumbled back to him.  
,,Don´t tell me you can´t hold your liquor. Dear God.”  
,,Don´t be mad.” she pouted at him, wrapping an arm around his neck, pulling him down to her. ,,Don´t turn around. They´re watching. Just go along with the flow. Remember?” she hissed quietly.  
,,Meaning what exactly?” He nuzzled her ear, swaying slightly as if he were drunk.  
,,Hang on to me and follow, ok?”  
They stumbled down the alley and past them men who eyed them very carefully.  
,,You smell nice.” she giggled, holding on to him, then suddenly let go and ran down the street.  
,,Come and catch me!” she sang, nearly tripping backwards over on the cobble stone.  
He giggled. ,,Then stop running, that´s unfair.”  
,,Why should I?”  
,,Because you want to.”  
,,I do?”  
,,Yeeeeheees!” she sang and finally tripped, landing backwards on her bum. For a moment there is a stunned look on her face, then she burst out laughing.  
,,Are you ok, Mia?” he asked, rushing up to her, trying to help her up.  
,,Don´t. Look...” she lay down on the cobblestone, pointing up. ,,Look, you can see the stars.”  
,,Get up, Mia. You can´t lie in the middle of the street, and it´s too cold.”  
,,But the stars...”  
,,Mia.”  
,,Fine, whatever. There is too much light pollution anyhow. When I was at Grand Canyon, I saw the stars properly. I saw the milky way. All you see here is the dipper. Fuck light pollution.”  
,,Yes, yes, now get up.”  
,,We are pretty fucked, aren´t we? As a species I mean. We are destroying the whole planet. Our own planet. Where we live. Our home. We are destroying our home.”  
,,Home.”  
,,Yes, I wan´t to go home now. Can you take me home?” she whined, nestling herself back into his arms. He steadies her. ,,Come on then.”  
The men follow them to the next tube station, but no further. They let out a sigh of relief, their expressions turning sober. Not only substance smuggling, but an entire smuggling ring with several heads. Briggs would have a cow. The unfortunate event of lip contact had occurred again. Everything had just gotten more difficult.

The next Morning there is a picture in the Prophet of her being kissed by the blue-haired girl and Malfoy next to her rolling his eyes, in endless repeat as the picture continues its loop. The Sunday brunch at the Burrow had never seen more amused smirks. After Hermione had assured Molly, no she wasn´t a lesbian, and yes, nothing would change and they would accept her even if she were, she had to explain to the rest why she had been in Soho Saturday night and why with _Draco Malfoy._  
Hermione sighed down at herself and the blue girl. Well, it could have been worse. They could have gotten a snapshot of her second kiss of the evening. Thank Merlin she didn´t have to explain that one, because she herself was still looking for answers.

 

**Three times is a pattern.**

The third time it had been around midnight and they had been following a suspect, the owner of the little tibetan shop, through the nightlife of London, all the way from her store.  
The woman had weaved through the crowd, walking several blocks before finally entering a building. They crept after her, through the glass door and down the hallways of what seemed to be an office building, deserted at that time of day.  
She unlocked an office, entered and almost immediately emerging again, sans a binder she had been carrying before. She locked up again, looked left and right before going back the way she came to leave the building again, walking past where the two hid in the shadows.  
Two minutes later, after being sure the woman had really left, they broke into the office with a quiet _alohomora_ by Hermione. The office was small, with a desk and chair, a row of shelves filled with binders and a dusty palm-tree of some sort in the corner. Hermione stepped forward to the desk, picking up the red binder the woman had been carrying, opened it and took about the uppermost file.  
,,These are sales reports.” she murmured, leafing through the papers. ,,The prices...they´re all in pounds and galleons.”  
,,So...” he leaned over her head to see the writing.  
,,This is proof! I was right, this really is a wizarding smuggling ring!”  
,,Of course you were right.” he smirked down at her, flashing a grin.  
,,Oh shut up, Malfoy.” she couldn´t help herself but to grin back.  
,,Well, pocket those or Briggs will never believe us.”  
,,I have a better idea.” she duplicated the file and placed it back on the desk, then murmured a spell.  
,,Tracking charm?”  
,,These sales reports are for the higher uppers. If we can trace their location, we might get a clue as to who these people are.”  
She slipped the file back in the binder.  
,,Anything else you see we...”  
Suddenly there was a crash as another binder slid off a pile of paper on the desk and fell to the floor.  
,,Dammit!” She quickly picked it up and returned it to it´s place, but the damage had been done. Voices floated down the hallway.  
,,Let´s get out of here!”  
They slipped out, locking the office behind them.  
,,Intruders!” came a cry through the dark. Light began popping on.  
Malfoy unlocked and shoved her in another office as several men came around the corner.  
,,Where do they always come from and why so fast?” Malfoy hissed.  
,,I don´t know, let´s get out of here!”  
They quietly climbed out through the window, lowering themselves to the ground.  
Lights flashed, blinding them.  
,,There they are!”  
,,Shit!” Hermione grabbed his hand, pulling her along as the men poured out onto the street. ,,We´d better run.”  
They raced through the streets as fast as they could and the crowds let them, but he men were never far behind. She finally came to a stop in a side street, clutching her sides, gasping for breath. ,,I can´t run much further.”  
,,Why do I have sudden deja vu?” Malfoy panted next to her. ,,It´s almost as if we´ve done this before. Running about and...”  
,,Oh, save your breath!” her voice was rather raspy ,,We need to hide. And I know the perfect place.”  
Quickly they slipped into a line in front of a club, trying to blend in with the late night party goers.  
,,We´re not dressed for this.” she muttered, looking around at tight sequined tops and very short dresses. Malfoy slipped his wand from his pocket muttering a spell.  
She looked down at herself. She still wore the same clothes but a faint shimmer covered her from head to toe, like an oil film.  
,,A glamour. Good thinking.”  
He applied one on himself. None of the surrounding bystanders batted an eye in their direction. They payed the entrance fee and showed their identity cards to the bouncer and dashed into the neon illuminated cave of an establishment. Immediately they were swallowed by a mass of dancing bodies. Hermione grabbed Malfoys hand and took the lead, pulling him through the crowd towards the corner made by the hallway that lead to the lavatories. She backed herself up against the black wall, pulling off her coat, putting it on the floor next to her, then pulled him close.  
,,They´ll look on the dance floor.” she shouted at him over the throbbing din of the bases.  
_Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark..._  
Colorful flecks of light danced over her skin, the back of his leather jacket. Her hair mingled with the darkness of the wall. Her eyes flew across the room.  
,,Shit. They´re here.”  
He flinched, his shoulders rose. She caught his cheek with the palm of her hand. ,,Don´t turn around. Keep looking at me.”  
His gaze never left hers.  
,,Were too unnatural just standing here.”  
The lights caught in his fair hair.  
_... young lover's rage_  
 _Gonna need a spark to ignite..._  
She reached up, putting her arms around his neck, pulling him down.  
They´re faces were inches apart. The pounding of the bases, slipped into their veins, coaxing the heart to respond to the accelerated rhythm.  
_My songs know what you did in the dark..._  
Their lips mashed together. He pushed her against the wall, buying his hands in her hair. His lips were rather gently, too gentle.  
She pulled away. ,,Malfoy, damn it! This is a club, not a church picnic! You just got a free pass to grope me, so for Merlins sake...” she hissed. His eyes flashed dangerously, like a silver warning.  
He grabbed her ass, pushing her up the wall, wrapping her legs around his waist. His hand wandered under her shirt, his thumb running along the wire of her bra.  
,,Better.”  
,,See them?” he murmured against her neck. She peeked through her hair, over his shoulder.  
,,Yes.”  
,,How many?”  
,,Four. And another guarding the entrance.”  
,,Damn.”  
,,One heading our way.”  
,,Fuck.”  
She pulled him back up, running her fingers through the hair on the back of his neck.  
,,Better give them a good show.” she breathed, before attacking his lips.  
_Light em up, up, up..._  
The man didn´t even properly glance at the pair standing by the entrance to the lavatories, sucking face, hands all over each other, the bird wrestling the bloke out of his leather jacket. He ignored their gasps and his growl with which he drove her harder into the wall when she nipped his neck, but simply passed them and went to check the bathrooms for the earlier intruders. The pair was entirely too absorbed to properly pay attention to their surroundings.  
The man passed them again when he exited the hallway again, having found only a few teenagers, who had obviously smuggled themselves in, purging the large quantities of alcohol consumed earlier from their bodies into the sink. The pair was still going at it.  
It was over half an hour before the pursuers finally decided to leave and they could finally fully unstick and untangle themselves from the other.  
Hermione let out a relieved sigh, slumping against the wall.  
,,Damn.” Malfoy growled, stepping back, giving her room, running his fingers through his disheveled hair. ,,That was close.”  
She picked up their jackets, handing him his.  
,,Let´s get out of here.”  
He nodded.  
Squeezing back through the dancing crowd, they made their way through the front doors releasing them into the cool night air, leaving them flushed and breathless. Oh, they were one hot mess, but a mess never the less. Her legs still were rather wobbly.  
,,You ok, Granger?”  
She nodded. ,,Clubs always leave me a bit dazed. Too much noise, too many people in the same space, breathing the same air, and the light contrast is too strong and always abruptly changing. It´s simple sense overstimulation...” _Not to mention the sensual overstimulation._  
,,I don´t know about you, but I going home and getting some shut eyes. Briggs will get his report in the morning, and no doubt the discussion will be nerve wracking and patience trying, so I want to be fully rested to face that battle.”  
,,Sounds like a plan.”  
,,Well then, night partner.”  
,,Night.”  
They disapparated with a double pop.

Three days later Hermione found him lying on the sofa of the auror kitchenette, eyes closed.  
,,Malfoy?”  
He didn´t answer.  
,,Malfoy.”  
No reaction whatsoever.  
,,Draco?”  
He opened one eye. ,,Yes.”  
,,Why didn´t you answer the first two times?”  
,,If you woke me just to ask me that, I shall be very...”  
,,No, I...I.”  
,,Granger your lack of eloquence is disturbing, almost worrisome. Do you need a healer?”  
,,I appreciate your concern, but no thanks I´m fine.”  
,,If you were fine you wouldn´t be standing here stuttering like Longbottom in potions class.”  
,,Snape was an evil dungeon bat and you know it.”  
,,You are referring to my late godfather, I presume?”  
,,Godfather? Well, that would explain a lot.”  
,,It does?”  
,,The breeding of sour, constantly pinched faces for one. Your potion marks for another.”  
,,He did tutor me.”  
,,I was assuming plain blatant favoritism.”  
,,Oh no, I earned those marks. Fair and square like a Hufflepuff gobstone game.”  
,,As if you have ever played gobstones.”  
,,Why shouldn´t have I?”  
,,It would have no doubt been an insult to your high intelligence.”  
,,So you actually acknowledge my intelligence?”  
,,I have never ignored facts.”  
,,No, you memorized them.”  
,,And they serve me quite well.”  
,,Granger you probably read a dictionary from cover to cover and enjoyed it.”  
,,I actually have. It was an interesting and refreshing experience.”  
,,If you have actually done so, then pray tell my why you don´t use all that vocabulary to tell me why you woke me up?”  
,,Oh, yes...”  
,,Granger.”  
,,Well, I have begun to see a rather disturbing pattern...”  
,,If you mean the new drapes in the upstairs lounge I fully agree. No taste at all, positively ghastly.”  
,,Actually I mean the pattern of us ending up sn...”  
,,Granger-Malfoy, please report to Head Auror. Granger-Malfoy, please report to Head Auror.”  
,,What did we do now?!”  
,,Shall I unroll the list?”  
,,Har, Har, come on, let´s see what Briggs wants from us.”

,,Granger-Malfoy. Have a seat.”  
They flopped down in the omnipresent blue plastic chairs.  
,,After quite an amount of research and consideration, we have decided to reopen the round robin case. And we´ve decided to give it to you.”  
Hermione and Malfoy exchanged grins of triumph.  
,,You two are my best undercover investigation team. And I´ve heard you do a very believable newlywed impression.”  
,,What?”  
,,The tracking charm you put on that piece of paper, we lost the signal in a high class apartment complex in the city. Obviously the paper must have passed some kind of magical barrier, making it unable to trace its exact location anymore. The leader of this ring is residing in one of the apartments, but we don´t know which one. You will be moving into the apartment complex as newlyweds and...”  
,,Wait, a moment.” they both leaned forward at the same time, folding their arms on the desk in front of them. ,,You want us...” her forefinger ticked back and forth between them ,,...to play newlyweds?!?”  
,,Yes. That isn´t a problem for you? Otherwise I´m happy to transfer this case to Potter and Williams and...”  
,,No, no problem at all.”  
,,Good. Here is the file, and here is all the information and documents concerning the characters you are going to play.” Hermione took them wordlessly.  
,,Good, any questions?”  
,,How long are we to stay undercover?”  
,,Until you find the ring leader.”  
They both nodded.  
,,You may go.”

 

TBC

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is TBC, I´ll be posting the rest soon...comment to your hearts desire :)
> 
> X Beth


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